Guidance

Pension schemes newsletter 139 ― May 2022

Published 31 May 2022

1. Relief at source – Annual return of information for 2021 to 2022

We want to remind scheme administrators that the deadline for submitting the 2021 to 2022 annual return of information is 5 July 2022.

If you do not submit this on time it will hold up:

• interim claims for the tax month ending 5 July 2022
• any claims for subsequent months until we receive your annual return of information

Make sure you submit the APSS590 Annual return of information declaration when submitting your annual return of information, as this forms part of your return. Without it your return will fail.

If you submit your annual return of information but this fails processing, we will:

• still consider this to be outstanding
• stop any subsequent interim repayment claims until we receive a re-submission

If failure occurs on the third submission, we’ll stop all future interim claims until we receive a further re-submission that is considered successful.

You can only submit your 2021 to 2022 annual return of information through the Secure data exchange service.

You can send the APSS590 Annual return of information declaration either by post or email. If you send your return by email, send it to reliefatsource.administration@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘APSS590 Annual return of information declaration’ in the subject line.

2. Digitisation of relief at source (RAS)

By April 2025, we aim to have a fully digital service that will replace the current RAS paper service. This will modernise reporting for schemes and deliver improvements for you, members, employers and HMRC.

To support this, all claims will be based on individual level data to allow HMRC to accurately calculate the tax relief due. The potential benefits include:

• streamlined reporting to HMRC, with multiple forms and returns merged into one regular report
• quicker payments as most claims will be paid within days of receipt, rather than weeks
• removal of the need for some declarations from individuals as HMRC will establish your eligibility and the amount of relief
• simplification of residency processes as HMRC will work out the relief due
• an alternative approach for handling overpayments of Pensions Tax Relief

We’re working closely with a group of stakeholders from the pensions industry to help us understand the challenges and benefits. The first Collaboration Forum was held on 28 April 2022. We want to continue to work with those in the industry to co-design the new service, test the new processes throughout the development phase and seek feedback to iterate our design.

If you would like to join the Collaboration Forum, email: pensionsprogramme@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘Digitising relief at source working group’ in the subject heading.

Our delivery will be in stages, and by the end of the tax year 2022 to 2023 we aim to digitise the existing interim claims process. The digital service will be open to all new and existing RAS schemes.

We aim to have the full service in place by the end of the tax year 2024 to 2025.

3. Managing pension schemes service

3.1 Migrating your pension schemes

Take action now to migrate your pension schemes to the Managing pension schemes service.

In the Managing pension schemes service newsletter – April 2022, we let you know that pension scheme administrators can now migrate pension schemes from the Pension schemes online service to the Managing pension schemes service.

If you’re migrating pension schemes, you should select ‘Add a pension scheme from the Pension schemes online service’ and select each scheme you need to migrate. You should not select ‘Apply to register a new pension scheme’.

If you’ve incorrectly tried to re-register an existing pension scheme that you’re an administrator for, email: migration.mps@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘Incorrect scheme registration’ in the subject line.

Find further guidance on migrating your pension schemes to the Managing pension schemes service.

3.2 Migrating your retirement annuity contracts and deferred annuity contracts

Take action now to migrate your retirement annuity contracts and deferred annuity contracts to the Managing pension schemes service.

For retirement annuity contracts (RACs) and deferred annuity contracts (DACs), no additional information will be required. You’ll only need to complete the declarations on the Managing pension schemes service to migrate these pension schemes.

If you’re a scheme administrator for multiple RACs and DACs, you’ll be given the option to migrate these altogether, by completing one set of declarations. It can take up to 48 hours for the RACs and DACs to be added to your list of schemes on the Managing pension schemes service.

If you’re migrating a large number of RACs and DACs, and the migration of any fails, they will reappear in your list of RACs and DACs available to migrate from the Pension schemes online service.

You’ll need to check your list of RACs and DACs available to migrate to make sure all the schemes have successfully migrated to the Managing pension schemes service.

3.3 How you can help us

We’re still looking for people to help us improve the Managing pension schemes service and test upcoming features.

You can take part in user research and give us feedback by joining the Managing Pension Schemes user panel

As a member of the panel, we’ll only contact you about the Managing pension schemes service.

This is your chance to give feedback and help inform the future design and development of the service.

You can email feedback to pensions.businessdelivery@hmrc.gov.uk using ‘Managing pension schemes service ― feedback’ in the subject line.

4. Accounting for Tax (AFT) returns

You can no longer compile and submit new Accounting for Tax returns for any quarter from 1 April 2020, on the Pension schemes online service. If you need to submit any new AFT returns for any quarter from 1 April 2020, you’ll need to migrate the pension scheme.

If you need to submit a return for the quarter 1 April 2022 to 31 June 2022, you need to have migrated your pension scheme and submitted the return on the Managing pension schemes service by the filing deadline of 14 August 2022 to avoid interest and penalties.

Find information on how to submit an AFT return using the Managing pension schemes service.